Means Used by the Nazi Conspiractors in Gaining Control of the German
State (Part 4 of 55)

Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression
Volume I Chapter VII

[Page 191]

(2) The Fuehrerprinzip (Fuehrer Principle). (a) Essential
elements. 1. Complete and total authority is vested in the Fuehrer. "The
Fuehrer Principle requires a pyramidal organization structure in the details
as well as in its entirety. "The Fuehrer is at the top. "He nominates the
necessary leaders for the various spheres of work of the Reichs direction,
the Party apparatus and the State administration." (1814-PS)

"He shapes the collective will of the people within himself
and he enjoys the political unity and entirety of the people in opposition
to individual interests. "The Fuehrer unites in himself all the sovereign
authority of the Reich; all public authority in the state as well as in
the movement is derived from the authority of the Fuehrer. We must speak
not of the states authority but of the Fuehrers authority if we wish to
designate the character of the political authority within the Reich correctly.
The state does not hold political authority as an impersonal unit but receives
it from the Fuehrer as the executor of the national will. The authority
of the Fuehrer is complete and all-embracing; it unites in itself all the
means of political direction; it extends into all fields of national life;
it embraces the entire people, which is bound to the Fuehrer in loyalty
and obedience. The authority of the Fuehrer is not limited by checks and
controls, by special autonomous bodies or individual rights, but it is free
and independent, all-inclusive and unlimited. "The Fuehrer-Reich of the
(German) people is founded on the recognition that the true will of the
people cannot be disclosed through parliamentary votes and plebiscites but
that the will of the people in its pure and uncorrupted form can only be
expressed through the Fuehrer." (2771-PS)

"Thus at the head of the Reich, stands a single Fuehrer, who
in his personality embodies the idea which sustains all and whose spirit
and will therefore animate the entire community." (2780-PS) As stated in
the Organization Book of the Nazi Party: [Page 192] "The will of the Fuehrer
is the Party's law." (1814-PS) The first commandment for the Party members
declares "The Fuehrer is always right." (1814-PS) "He (the Fuehrer) is responsible
only to his conscience and the German people." (1814-PS)

Hess, in a speech broadcast at Cologne on 25 June 1934, characterized
the position of the Fuehrer as follows:

"It is with pride that we see that one man is kept above all
criticism -- that is the Fuehrer. "The reason is that everyone feels and
knows: he was always right and will always be right. The National Socialism
of us all is anchored in the uncritical loyalty, in the devotion to the
Fuehrer that does not ask for the wherefore in the individual case, in the
tacit performance of his commands. We believe that the Fuehrer is fulfilling
a divine mission to German destiny! This belief is beyond challenge." (2426-PS;
see also additional statements of the Nazi conspirators designed to condition
the German people to blind acceptance of the decisions of the Fuehrer and
his co- conspirators, as translated in 237-PS.)

2. The Fuehrer's power descends to subleaders in a hierarchical
order. In the words of the Organization Book of the NSDAP: "The Party is
the order of fuehrers. "All political directors (Politische Leiter) stand
as appointed by the Fuehrer and are responsible to him. They possess full
authority towards the lower echelons. (1893-PS)

"He (The Fuehrer) nominates the necessary leaders for the
various spheres of work of the Reichs' direction, the Party apparatus, and
the State administration." (1814-PS) The effect of this was aptly expressed
by Hitler in 1933: "When our opponents said, 'It is easy for you: you are
a dictator' We answer them, 'No, gentlemen, you are wrong; there is no single
dictator, but ten thousand, each in his own place.' And even the highest
authority in the hierarchy has itself only one wish, never to transgress
against the supreme authority to which it, too, is responsible." (2771-PS)
[Page 193]

3. Each subleader is bound to unconditional obedience to his
immediate superior and to the Fuehrer. As Hitler said, "We have in our movement
developed this loyalty in following the leader, this blind obedience of
which all the others know nothing and which gave to us the power to surmount
everything." (2771-PS) The duty of obedience is so fundamental that it is
incorporated as the second of the NSDAP commandments for party members:
"Never go against discipline !" (2771-PS) As Ley said: "Our conscience is
clearly and exactly defined. Only what Adolf Hitler, our Fuehrer, commands,
allows, or does not allow is our conscience." (2771-PS) The obedience required
was not the loyalty of a soldier to the Fatherland, as was the case prior
to the Nazi regime. On the contrary, the obedience exacted was unconditional
and absolute, regardless of the legality or illegality of the order. The
oath taken by political leaders (Poltische Leiter) yearly was as follows:
"I pledge eternal allegiance to Adolf Hitler. I pledge unconditional obedience
to him and the Fuehrers appointed by him." (1893-PS)

4. Each subleader is absolute in his own sphere of jurisdiction.
The Nazi Party Organization Book lays down the same principle with respect
to the successive tiers of its leaders: "The Fuehrer Principle represented
by the Party imposes complete responsibility on all party leaders for their
respective spheres of activity *********The responsibility for all tasks
within a major sphere of jurisdiction rests with the respective leader of
the NSDAP: i.e., with the Fuehrer for the territory of the Reich, the the
district leader for the territory of the district, the local leader for
the territory of the local group, etc. "The Party leader has responsibility
for the entire territory under his jurisdiction on the one hand, and on
the other hand, his own political fields of activity appertaining thereto.
"This responsibility for the complete or partial performance of task entails
a relationship of subordina- [Page 194] tion of the leaders among themselves,
corresponding to the fuehrer principle." (2771-PS)